2010 BRITISH F3 NATIONAL CLASS CHAMPION

14th May 2009

RAIN INTERUPTS PLAY FOR IDAFAR DURING DONINGTON TEST

Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar is looking forward to the third race meeting of the 2009 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship season at Donington Park this weekend, 16th/17th May, after working through two positive free-practice sessions earlier today.

Although changeable conditions arrived for this afternoon’s 55-minute session which prevented the category rookie from enjoying a run on new tyres, thus impacting on his eventual best time of the day, Menasheh ploughed through a whole range of set-up work with his Derbyshire team and heads into qualifying on Saturday happy with the progress made.

During this morning’s opening 50-minute run, the 18-year-old remained on old tyres throughout and concluded the outing with a best lap of 1m 06.747 seconds (105.56mph). The team planned to fit a set of fresh tyres to Menasheh’s car in the afternoon following a run bedding in brake pads but the onset of rain prevented the use of new rubber, spoiling the opportunity to push for fast times.

Speaking after today’s test, Hillspeed’s Richard Ollerenshaw said: “We’ve had a good day and although the times don’t appear to reflect that as we didn’t get a run on new tyres, the work we completed was very productive.

“Menasheh ran old rubber in the morning, while a lot of others used new tyres, and the plan was to take some fresh rubber in the afternoon after we bedded in some brake pads. On the pad run it started to rain so there was no chance to run on new tyres which was a shame. The times certainly don’t show Menasheh’s true pace but we completed some vital work ahead of the weekend.”

Qualifying for rounds five and six of the championship will take place on Saturday, 16th May, at 10.35 and 15.25 respectively. Both races will follow on Sunday, 17th May, with round five scheduled to start at 10.30 and round six following at around 16.20. The second 16-lap race will also be screened live across the UK on Freeview, cable and digital satellite channel ITV4.